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CHAPTER XXII. 
an alien people. Moreover the bulk of the plantations are situated 
far from any Government educational facilities. Nor does the provision 
of land for a school site or the cost of erection of a suitable building pro- 
vide any of the initial difficulties in respect of scarcity of floor space and 
bigh costs of construction which often characterise the problem in a big 
city. The Central Government have been able to insist on the provision 
for the children of the Indian worker who emigrates to the plantations of 
Malaya and Ceylon of suitable educational facilities up to the legal 
minimum age of employment; d.e., 10 years, and experience has shown 
that, in the comparatively brief time these requirements have been in 
operation, the response of the parents, though in the first instance 
modest as was to be expected, is very gradually improving and a 
slowly increasing percentage of children of school age are reported 
year by year as benefiting from the facilities provided. Although 
compulsion can be exercised both on employees and parents, there has 
been throughout a sympathetic administration, which hasshowna true 
understanding by Government of the difficulties to be encountered and of 
the fact that the initial progress must necessarily be slow if the founda- 
bions are to be securely laid. The evidence given before us in India con- 
vinces us that the spirit of goodwill on both sides and the readiness 
bo co-operate are there, if only the impetus to make the start can be given, 
and thus obviate the difficulty created by the present tendency of both 
local Governments and the industry each to look to the other to make 
the first move. 
Co-operation between Government and Planters. 
We therefore recommend that the local Governments concerned 
should convene a representative conference of both parties at an early 
date with a view to surveying the ground and deciding the particular con- 
tribution of each to the desired end. Thereis the example in Ceylon of a 
scheme whereby the estates make themselves responsible for the build- 
ing, maintenance and equipment of suitable schools, whenever there 
are resident on the estates 25 or more children between the ages of 6 and 
10 years, the Government contributing the salary of the teacher and 
general supervision of the curriculum and organisation. We are aware 
that in Assam and the Dooars the supply of teachers and the decision 
as tothe vernacular to be taught present problems which give rise to 
practical difficulties ; but we believe that, with the inauguration of a 
general scheme of this kind throughout the industry, these difficulties 
will be found capable of gradual elimination. Co-operation between 
the industry and the local Governments could be further extended by 
agreement from the very outset on a curriculum suited to the type of 
worker to be found on the plantations. We do not suggest that the 
normal syllabus, which in some cases is possibly too urbanised for the 
type of pupil concerned, should necessarily be introduced, but rather 
one having a definite agricultural bias likely to instil into the pupil a 
greater keenness and aptitude for the work that lies before him. The 
three R’s and elementary hygiene should form the basis of the 
syllabus.